Gas turboelectric locomotive



March 2, 1948.

H. WEIER GAS TURBO-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE Filed March 8, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 2, 1948. H. WEIER GAS TURBO-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE Fil ed March 8, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR: By: m, %A%&9

Patented Mar. 2,

2,437,011 GAS TURBOELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE Heinrich Weler, Ennetbaden, Switzerland, as-

signor to Aktiengesellschaft Brown, Boveri & Cie, Baden, Switzerland Application March 8, 1945, Serial No. 581,683

'In Switzerland February 3, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690,

August 8, 1946 Patent expires February 3, 1964 6 Claims.

With gas turbine locomotives with electrical power transmission a gas turbine drives a compressor and with the surplus power a generator,

this latter supplying t he traction motors of the vehicle, Since with such plants the power consumption of the compressor amounts to several times the useful power, a very favourable regenerative braking is possible with gas turbine locomotives because 'during braking the compressor can absorb power from the traction motors. In other words during the braking period, when the power of the gas turbine decreases due to a reduced fuel supply and is no longer able to provide the power required by the compressor, the missing power can be supplied by the traction motors which then operate as generators, these motors supplying the generator coupled to the compressor and operating vehicle is braked.

as a motor, whereby the With such braking arrangement the traction motors which operate separately excited and as generators have to be for this purpose up to the present a special exciter machine, the so-called braking exciter. had

to be provided. These special exciter machines, however, cause an undesirable increase in the weight of the plant and also-require additional space which in view of ative braking in gas electrical power transmission. invention this is achieved by turbine locomotives with According to the providing several generators for the electrical power transmission,

these generators being and at least one of them serving as a braking coupled to the compressor exciter for the traction motors operating as generators during the braking other generators running as compressor. By thus period. whilst the motors drive the dividing the useful Dower amongst several generators the exciter which has to be usually provided can be omitted and there is still the greatest part of the useful power available as braking power.

A constructional example of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in diagrammatic form, Fig.

locomotive arrangement 1 showing a gas turbine the electrical transmission of the power, and Fig.

2 a particularly favou rable arrangement of the generators to an'enlarged scale. Fig. 3 is a scheshowing a suitable rela of the locomotive control y arrangement for switchwith four generators for 2 ing the generators and motors from their running to braking connections.

In Fig. 1 reference numeral I indicates the gas turbine for driving a compressor 2 which supplies over a preheater 3 the air required for combustion in the combustion chamber 4, the driving gases for thegas turbine being taken from this chamber 4. The surplus power of the gas turbine, that is the useful Dower, drives over gearing 5 the four generators 6, these latter being arranged in pairs one behind the other on the same shaft. Generators 6 supply traction motors 1 which either directly or by means of gearing drive the driving wheels of the vehicle.

When braking, traction motors l operate as generators and must have a separate excitation, and for this purpose one of the generators B is used as a braking exciter for all the traction motors 1. This is of course possible because the current of generators 6 supplies a suitable excitation current for all the traction motors 1. The remaining three generators 6 operate as motors during braking and drive the compressor 2 over gearing 5 so that the gas turbine I load is decreased and the latter requires less fuel for its operation. These three generators 6 sumce for all the required braking power because this generator 6, or also by tion air delivered by compressor 2.

A very favourable arrangement of the generators 6 is obtained when these are located in twos one behind the other on one and the same shaft and are at the same time constructed in the form of twin generators arranged next to each other. A self-contained exciter 9 for the 3 shows a preferred circuit arrangement for switching the generators 6 and motors I from running to braking connections. With the contacts a-b of the switching relays ID in the position shown in Fig. 2, contacts a being "closed and contacts b open, the locomotive power plant is arranged for braking operations as described above wherein three of the four dynamoelectric machines 1 functions as generators to deliver power to three of the four machines 6. The fourth of the machines 6 serves as an exciter for the machines 1. With the relay contacts a open and the 2) contacts closed, the plant is in the "running position with machines machines 1.

delivering traction power to the Exciter 9 supplies excitation current to the machines 8 as also previously explained.

This division of the generators not only enables weight and space to be saved due to the elimination of a special exciter, but also possesses the important advantage that high-speed machines can be used for the generators, these being very favourable as regards weight and size. This also provides favourable conditions for the gearmg.

I claim:

1. Gas turbine locomotive comprising a gas 'turbine driving a compressor, a plurality of tract each group being arranged one behind the other on a common shaft.

3. Gas turbine locomotive as in claim 1, characterized by the. i'eature that said generators are divided into several groups, the generators of each group being arranged one behind the other on a common shaft and the said groups being constructed as twin units arranged next toeach other.

4. Gas turbine locomotive as in claim 1, characterised by the feature that at least two generators are built directly together in the direction of their axes, the groups of generators thus formed being arranged next to each other with their axes parallel.

5. Gas turbine locomotive as in claim 1, characterized by the feature that at least two generators are built directly together in the direction of their axes, groups of generators thus formed being arranged next to each other with their axes parallel and built directl together.

6. Gas turbine locomotive as in claim 1, characterised by the feature that said generators are arranged in groups, the several groups being drivenby a common gear wheel.

" HEINRICH WEIER.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,083,730 Collisehonn Jan. 6, 1914 1,784,524 Jensen Dec, 9, 1930 2,165,982 Schmer July 11, 1939 2,262,195 Noack Nov, 11, 1941 2,263,705 Seippel Nov, 25, 1941 2,298,309 Ray Oct. 13, 1942 2,336,052 Anderson et a1. Dec. 7, 1943 2,339,185 Nettel Jan. 11, 1944 2,363,714 Nettel Nov. 14, 1944 

